The Fiscal Policy Subcommittee of the Union Executive Board has finalized its recommendation for next year’s activity fee, which was recently approved by the Student Senate at its February 16 meeting. The fee, pending approval by President Shirley Ann Jackson and the Board of Trustees, was announced as $533.50 for undergraduates and $280.00 for graduate students—only a 0.95 percent and 3.75 percent increase, respectively.
The Union Annual Report for 2009 has also been revamped this year in an effort to provide more transparency during the rough economic times, according to E-Board Liaison and Senator Brian Zaik ’09. The document includes detailed information on the budgeting process and how this year’s activity fee was determined.
“The changing economic climate has influenced the budget policies of the Union,” President of the Union Rob Odell ’09 wrote in the Union Annual Report. “Despite these shifts, a meticulous budgeting review conducted by a full Executive Board contributed to the great success of creating the Union budget for the 2010 Fiscal Year.”
The E-Board was able to complete budgeting in two days, while still ensuring that every club and athletic program is flourishing and continually improving. Odell said, “Our decisions were met with very few appeals from club officers. In the end, the full board was able to pull together the Union budget responsibly and effectively.”
One of the main goals of the Board this year was to ensure that athletic departments got the funding they needed. Many other institutions have made budget cuts across the board, forcing many athletic departments to eliminate entire lower-level athletic teams and damage the funding for their more major teams, according to Odell; however, because the Union is entirely student-funded, RPI’s budget cuts did not affect our funding this year, making RPI’s athletic departments one of a handful that have not been affected by the economic crisis.
The Union also saw a growth in clubs this year, bringing the total number on campus to over 170. Among the 15 new clubs were both athletic ones—Club Ice Hockey, Club Lacrosse, the Curling Club—as well as cultural and performing arts clubs—Spotlight, Center Stage, and Duly Noted.
During the Senate meeting on February 16, Odell and Zaik presented details on the budgeting process and the new activity fee. Zaik reported that subsidies for the Union clubs decreased 3.4 percent and athletics expenses increased 6.2 percent, while income from the bookstore is projected to increase 9.4 percent. Despite the economic situation this year, the increase to the fee was the lowest that the Union has seen in over 15 years, Zaik said.
The activity fee was based off roughly 6,254 fee-paying students, of which 5,238 are undergraduates and 1,016 graduate students—based on student enrollment projections by the Rensselaer Budget Office.
The precedent for the student activity fee can be traced back to 1883, when students saw the need for a gymnasium and pledged roughly $1,300 to help fund the construction of the ’87 Gym. The construction of a new student union in the late 1950s and early 1960s also required students to tax themselves to go ahead with the development of the building. The current philosophy behind the activity fee determination process was developed and adopted by the Student Senate in 1985. Other projects continued the need for a fee such as the $10 million revitalization of the Union in 1999, which was approved with student input and a referendum.
Besides low increase in the activity fee, a notable event within budgeting this year was the creation of a more detailed and transparent Union Annual Report by the Fiscal Policy Subcommittee. The document had previously been an excel spreadsheet, that few outside of the Union Administration office and Fiscal Subcommittee would generally see, according to Zaik.
The spreadsheet has been remade into a 33-page document detailing the purpose of the Union, which includes a letter from the President of the Union and a variety of explanations and graphs that detail where every dollar from the student activity fee goes.
“At a time of great financial peril, as new programs are deployed to stimulate our economy, it is our responsibility, as the students and staff members who determine the fees billed to our peers to fund the Union, to lay the foundation for increased accountability through a commitment to transparency,” Zaik stated.
Odell said, “The benefits of moving away from the ‘black box’ approach to having expenses broken down by team, line-by-line, are immeasurable.”
“As students, we don’t find ourselves responsible for the turning of the gears of the Institute each day; nor do we have all the data points to point out where our tuition dollars go,” said Zaik. “But when it comes to the Union, the spotlights are fixed squarely on us.”
